Qetsiyah
Tessa, known in ancient times as Qetsiyah '('Hebrew: '''קְצִיעָה), was an extremely powerful witch who was a member of The Travellers and who created the first immortality spell as well as the only cure for it. She used the spell on the witch Silas, thinking he loved her and hoping they could be together forever. However, after finding out that Silas had been using her so he could be forever with her handmaiden, Amara, instead, she became enraged: she imprisoned him a tomb with the cure for immortality, then made, unbeknownst to him, Amara an immortal as well and used her as a source of energy to create The Other Side, an alternate dimension where all supernatural beings would go after their death. She was hoping Silas would take the cure and spend eternity with her in the dimension she had created. However, by making Amara immortal, she ensured that even if Silas managed to somehow destroy The Other Side and then take the cure, he would still not be reunited with Amara. After Silas' emtombing, The Travellers took the body of Amara away from Tessa and then hunted her down. However, reasons for that remain unknown. Centuries later, when realizing that Silas would never take the cure, one of Qetsiyah's descendants created The Brotherhood of the Five to find Silas and force it down his throat. However, when even this failed, Qetsiyah came back from The Other Side to get the job done herself, by returning to life when Bonnie Bennett lowered the Veil to the Other Side. She also became a major antagonist of Season 5. Qetsiyah is the most powerful witch seen so far and arguably the most important character in the series. '''Qetsiyah was a distant ancestor of the Bennett Family. History Qetsiyah was born some time in the 1st century B.C. Over 2,000 years ago, in Ancient Greece, Qetsiyah was a beautiful young lady who was (along with Silas) the most powerful witch in a group of very "gifted" people called the Travellers. Also a part of the Travellers, was a handsome, powerful and young witch named Silas whom she fell madly in love with. The two eventually became engaged to be married, and when Silas told her he wanted to be with her forever, Qetsiyah created a spell that would make them both immortal. Qetsiyah successfully made an immortality elixir, which they would consume on their wedding night. Qetsiyah created a whole garden for their wedding and prepared for Silas to join her so that they could commence their eternity together. As she waited for him at the altar, however, everything around her started to die and Qetsiyah realized that Silas was drinking the elixir from another location. Knowing that Silas was up to no good, she tracked Silas down to a tent in the woods, where she had discovered that Silas' betrayal was even worse than what she had believed. Not only had Silas given the immortality elixir to another woman, but that woman was her handmaiden, Amara. Enraged, Qetsiyah found a way to reverse the spell, creating a cure for immortality before going to get her revenge. She waited until Silas had left before confronting Amara. She dessicated Amara, then faked her death in order to make Silas believe she was dead. Silas attempt to atack her for killing his love, however Qetsiyah used her magic to neutralize Silas, and entombed him in a cave on a remote island. She buried him with the cure and with a choice: take the cure and die a human, or rot as an immortal being for eternity. Silas chose to rot as an immortal being in darkness just to spite Qetsiyah. Still, after entombing Silas, Qetsiyah wasn't satisfied. She knew that should Silas die a mortal death, his spirit or his soul would go to the peaceful afterlife. Determined to not allow that to happen, she created a supernatural purgatory, which eventually came to be known as the "Other Side," where all supernatural creatures would go when they died. She bound the Other Side to Amara, needing something eternal indestructible to bind it to so that it would never fall. This ensured that, if Silas was ever freed and succeeded in his plan to die, he would not be reunited with Amara, even if the Other Side did happen to fall. At some point, Qetsiyah was killed by the travellers, leaving behind a child, which would continue the Bennett bloodline. From the Other Side, she was forced to watch as Silas refused to take the cure. To add insult to injury, when Silas and Amara became immortals, they violated the natural law that all things must die, so Nature found a balance by creating what they call "shadow-selves," or doppelgängers, who could die. While on the Other Side, she was forced to watch Silas and Amara's shadow-selves find each other and fall in love over the span of over two thousand years. Roughly a thousand years later, an altered version of Qetsiyah's immortality spell was used by the witch Esther to turn her children and husband into immortals, but because of the alteration in the spell, she created the first vampires. A hundred years after that, Qetsiyah's descendants created the Brotherhood of the Five Hunters, with the mission: find Silas' tomb, force feed him the cure, and kill him. However, the first five hunters were killed by the Original Vampires. Due to this circumstance, their mission found itself sidetracked, and the spell that bound the five hunters was forced to adapt to new hunters who did not have the benefit of the full map to the cure. Season Four In the episode We All Go A Little Mad Sometimes, Professor Shane tells his students the story of the first immortal and his tragic fate: Qetsiyah had helped Silas to create a spell for immortality. However, upon discovering that Silas had planned to live forever with another woman, she killed Silas' lover and used her powers to imprison Silas. In O Come, All Ye Faithful, Shane mentions the story again, referencing that Qetsiyah had been the best friend of Silas. In After School Special, Shane gives Bonnie Qetsiyah's talisman for use in her magical affairs. In Into the Wild, Shane elaborates on the story behind the creation of the cure: Qetsiyah, as part of her punishment, created the cure and buried it with Silas. Qetsiyah hoped that Silas would take the cure, die and be on The Other Side with her for all eternity, but he refused. Centuries later, her descendants created The Brotherhood of the Five to find, cure and kill Silas. Later, Shane also reveals that Bonnie and the Bennett Line are descended from Qetsiyah. In Down the Rabbit Hole, Shane reveals that the core of Silas' Headstone contains Qetsiyah's calcified blood. According to him, it is more valuable than the in some witch circles. It was never a requirement for the ritual to free Silas, but merely payment to enlist the help of Massak, an island local. After Massak is killed by Katherine, the headstone is presumably in her possession. Back at the Gilbert House, where Caroline and Tyler are trying to decode the Hunter's Mark, as well as the cryptex in the Hunter's Sword, Klaus reveals that the text is written in Aramaic, which he supposes could be Qetsiyah's native tongue. In Stand By Me, it is revealed that Qetsiyah created The Other Side for the sole purpose of trapping Silas there for all eternity if he took the cure and died. In Because the Night, Silas himself tells Bonnie that Qetsiyah was "one of the most powerful witches of all time", a testament to her incredible power. It also suggests that Qetsiyah was either as or more powerful than Silas as a witch. In Pictures of You, Silas reveals to Bonnie that Qetsiyah had also cast a spell to disfigure him so that no woman could love him. In She's Come Undone, Bonnie makes a deal with Katherine. If Katherine gives over Silas' Headstone which contained Qetsiyah's blood, she will convince Qetsiyah to tell her how to make Katherine truly immortal like Silas once the veil to the The Other Side is dropped. In The Walking Dead, Bonnie reveals to Katherine that the reason she wants to drop the veil is to ask Qetsiyah how to stop Silas. After Bonnie drops the veil she attempts to summon Qetsiyah only to be stopped by Silas. Silas reveals that Qetsiyah did not disfigure him and that he made Bonnie believe she had driven him out of her mind, creating a false sense of security. He also discouraged Bonnie, telling her Qetsiyah would not come anyway as she wants him to die and be with her. In Graduation, Vaughn reveals that he starved to death in the cave and passed on to The Other Side, but was found by Qetsiyah. She reminded him of his destiny of curing and killing Silas. So when the veil was dropped she sent him, Connor, and Alexander to complete their supernatural destiny. Silas also reveals that it was him and not Qetsiyah who created the Immortality Spell, which later is revealed to be another lie told by Silas. Season Five In Original Sin, Qetsiyah (under the guise of Tessa) saves Stefan from burning to death in the sun (without his daylight ring) and takes him to an unknown and secluded cabin. When he wakes up, she quickly reveals her true identity as Qetsiyah. She explains that when Bonnie dropped the veil, she took the opportunity to send her Hunters (The Five) to cure and kill Silas. However, when it became apparent that they would fail, she decided to take matters into her own hands and revived herself before Bonnie put the veil back up. She then revealed more details behind what happened between her and Silas 2,000 years ago, which led to the revelation that Silas' true love, Amara, had also taken the immortality elixir, which created the bloodline of doppelgängers that spawned the Petrovas (Tatia , Katherine, Elena), just as Silas had his own line of doppelgängers that were created after he became immortal. Qetsiyah explained that while she was on the Other Side, she has watched the universe push the doppelgängers of Silas and Amara together, which demonstrates why Stefan and Katherine as well as Stefan and Elena have been romantically involved over the years. When talking to Damon, Qetsiyah suggested that Stefan and Elena's relationship was predestined, but it could also be inferred that the relationships between the doppelgängers didn't always work out, as evidenced by the fact that Stefan's relationships with both girls had ended as of this conversation. Shortly after this revelation, Qetsiyah used her magic to take Stefan down and bind him to Silas in order to cast a spell to suppress Silas' mental powers. However, Damon interrupts her when he finds Stefan, and tells her he wants to take him and leave. However, when Stefan learns of the plan to disable Silas, he persuades Damon to let her finish her spell, so they can finally defeat him. Once Qetsiyah is finished, she also reveals Stefan and Elena's destiny to Damon, much to his shock, and offers to let him run off with Elena, while she stays with Stefan and keeps him safe. However, Damon loves Stefan too much to do this to him and attacks her, but she easily disarms him by inflicting him with an aneurysm and leaves. Elena arrives soon after and helps them all escape. Later, Qetsiyah is seen performing another ritual in a room full of candles that involved her blood, which hints that there is much more to her agenda than we currently know. In Monster's Ball, Qetsiyah tries to flirt with Stefan and reveals to Silas that The Travellers had killed her 2,000 years ago. She comes to the historical ball in order to get her amulet, which she uses to locate the anchor holding the Other Side intact. Silas, pretending to be Stefan, reads her mind to get the information, thanks to Damon breaking Stefan's neck, and rendering the block on his abilities dormant. However, Stefan escapes Damon and goes to tell Qetsiyah that it is Silas, not Stefan. Upon realizing this, an enraged Qetsiyah uses her magic to force her hand into his chest, grasp his heart and desiccates him. In Handle with Care, Qetsiyah is looking after Stefan. After some mild flirting, she reveals that Silas took the cure and that she plans on finally killing him. As she prepares to go to the location of the anchor, she finds herself unable to leave the cabin, enraging her as she was the one who taught Silas how to do the spell trapping her and Stefan. Later, while Stefan is the shower, Elena calls Stefan's phone, which Qetsiyah answers. She implies that she and Stefan slept together, luring Elena into the cabin. Once there, she uses Stefan's phone to call Damon and threatens to kill Elena if he doesn't kill Silas. Later, Damon contacts her and asks why The Travellers would want the being they despise so much to stay alive. She responds that the cure is in Silas' blood and that the Travellers aren't a fan of immortality, implying that there's an immortal they want cured. She then fill in certain details about what the anchor had to be: eternal and indestructible, leading to the reveal that the anchor is in fact Amara herself. Later, Stefan, still having some affection for Elena, attacks Qetsiyah to give her the chance to escape. Later, she shows up, noting that history is repeating itself, someone with Silas' face appearing to care for her, only for him to betray her for a person looking like Amara. In vengeance, she states that she regrets erasing Stefan's pain and painfully restores his memories and reminds him that the only thing he could hold on to during his time underwater was that Elena or Damon would come free him and they didn't, but she did. In Death and the Maiden, Qetsiyah needs something powerful to bind the anchor transfer to, so, since there are no natural recurrences (ie, full moons, comets, etc) to use, she decides that doppelgängers would do the trick. Damon offers up one of the dozen or so he always has on hand. Damon takes Qetsiyah to see Amara. Qetsiyah is given the best gift of all Amara hand delivered in mortal form. She promises to kill her and re-do the other side spell making Bonnie the anchor, yet sadly for Amara and Silas, Qetsiyah will make sure they spend eternity apart. With all three doppelgängers present, Qetsiyah begins her work. Using a little blood from each doppelganger on Bonnie’s grimoire, acting as a Talisman, Qetsiyah begins turning Bonnie into Anchor to the Other Side, but Silas shows up in the middle and disrupts the spell. The power goes out and when everyone looks around, Qetsiyah and Amara have vanished. Silas and Qetsiyah have a showdown in the Salvatore library, during which Stefan calls to say that he stole Amara and will keep her alive indefinitely if Silas doesn’t come find him in 10 minutes. Qetsiyah begins the spell again, and as she does so, Bonnie and Jeremy tell each other that they love each other, and as he touches her face, he realizes he can feel her. The spell has worked and Bonnie is officially the new anchor to the Other Side. Qetsiyah refuses to help Katherine, who asked her to help keep her from aging. Qetsiyah kills herself as Katherine watches and she appears to Bonnie, breaking the news that every supernatural that dies has to pass through her and she will feel the pain of every supernatural death. She then passes through her to successfully join Silas on the other side leaving Bonnie on her knees shrieking in pain. Personality At first, all that could be known about Qetsiyah's personality is through inferences based on Shane/Silas' version of the legend. If she was willing to help Silas cast the spell of immortality, she must have been a very loyal friend as well as a very powerful witch. However, her decision to imprison Silas and Amara in darkness for all eternity indicates an extremely jealous, hateful and vindictive personality as well. Further, her decision to create The Other Side as a way to torment Silas and keep him from his soulmate for all eternity suggests a highly unstable or vengeful personality, since creating the Other Side resulted in hundreds, if not thousands of supernatural beings being tormented for all eternity. She also has no qualms in lying having lied to Silas about having killed Amara, and then later telling that same lies to his doppelgänger, Stefan. Tessa also openly lied about preparing a new Daylight ring for Stefan, when in fact, she was readying a spell to link both Stefan and Silas. Her actions have elicited different reactions. Elena expressed shock after hearing what Qetsiyah did from Professor Shane while Damon went as far as to refer to her as a "crazy ass witch". Bonnie, her descendent, seemed to find her actions very cool, telling Shane "Qetsiyah sounds like a badass". Since her first appearance, Qetsiyah has proven to be quite crazy, unstable, and possessive. She admits her own issues including paranoia and vindictiveness. Physical Appearance She appears to be a woman in her late 20s to early 30s. She has long curly hair and appears to be of Mediterranean descent. Powers and Abilities *'Channeling:' The act of channeling or drawing other forms of energy and power by focusing on celestial events. *'Conjuration:' The act of calling, commanding, or summoning an element, object, person, or spirit already in existence. *'Elemental Control:' The act of controlling and manipulating the elements of air, earth, fire, water, and weather. *'Mind Control:' The act of controlling and manipulating the minds of humans. (Similar to Compulsion) *'Mind Stunning:' The act of bemusing and rendering someone unconscious. *'Pain Infliction:' The act of creating and inflicting excruciating pain upon another person, especially vampires. *'Precognition:' The act of foreseeing future events and happenings. *'Spell Casting:' The act of changing and controlling events by magical influence. *'Telekinesis:' The act of controlling and manipulating the movements of objects and persons. *'Spell Creation:' Qetsiyah could create spells for a variety of effects. *'Potion Making:' The act of brewing and concocting supernatural elixirs and potions that contain mystical properties. Weaknesses and Vulnerabilities *'Fear:' A distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the condition or feeling of being afraid could cause a witch to temporarily lose their powers. *'Overuse of Magic:' The excessive use of magic could lead a witch to death from over-exertion. Tools *'Candles:' Witches use candles to draw energy from the flames and also enhance their spells. *'Grimoires:' Witches document their spells, rituals and recipes in books called Grimoires. *'Stones & Herbs:' Witches use stones and herbs to aid them as they have a magical entity. *'Talismans:' Witches use material items that can act as a talisman. It is said to be one of the most powerful tools used by a witch. Relationships Silas Over 2000 years ago, Silas and Qetsiyah were the most powerful witches in a group of very "gifted" people called the Travellers. The two eventually became engaged to be married and, telling her that he wanted to be with her forever he used her for creating a spell that would make him and his one true love Amara the first vampires in the world. Qetsiyah successfully made the Immortality elixir, which they would consume on their wedding night. Qetsiyah created a whole garden for their wedding and prepared for Silas to join her so that they could commence their eternity together. At that moment however, everything around her started dying. Qetsiyah realized that Silas was drinking the elixir from another location. Qetsiyah realized he did intend to be immortal but not with her, when she learned that Silas given the immortality elixir to another woman but that woman was her handmaiden, Amara. Enraged, Qetsiyah found a way to reverse the spell, creating a cure for immortality, she forced Amara to drink the cure and killed her, first slitting her throat before ripping out her heart, which makes Silas get angry and wanna killed, she entombed him in a cave on a deserted island. She buried him with the cure and with a choice: take the cure and die a human, or rot as an Immortal forever. Qetsiyah created The Other Side, which is a supernatural purgatory for supernatural creatures after they die, so that when or if Silas dies, he would wind up there and be with her forever instead of with his human true love. Amara Silas' lover, Amara, was a handmaiden to Qetsiyah. Amara and Silas were secret lovers while Silas was engaged to Qetsiyah. When Qetsiyah discovered that Silas drank the immortality elixir with Amara, she tracked them down. Qetsiyah imprisoned Amara for 2,000 years, letting Silas believe she was dead. Other Relationships *Qetsiyah and Stefan (Enemies) Appearances Season 5 *''Original Sin'' *''Monster's Ball'' *''Handle with Care'' *''Death and the Maiden'' Name *'Qetsiyah' (קְצִיעָה) is feminine name of Hebrew origin. The name means "cassia," which is a bark similar to cinnamon. *In the Bible, Qetsiyah is the name of the second daughter of Job, born after his trial. *'Tessa' is a feminine name of Greek origin. The name means "to reap", "reaper" or "to harvest". It is a variation or short form of Theresa. Trivia *Qetsiyah, Bonnie Bennett, and Abby Bennett Wilson have several similarities: **All three were powerful witches. **All three managed to imprison three extremely powerful immortals/vampires by desiccating them (Silas, Klaus and Mikael). **They are all members of the Bennett Family bloodline. *Qetsiyah is featured in the Hunter's Mark as a hooded figure. *It was confirmed in Down the Rabbit Hole ''that she's related to Bonnie. *She is the oldest known ancestor to the Bennett line. *Qetsiyah is a very ancient ancestor to all of the Bennett women (i.e. Ayana, Emily, Abby, Bonnie, etc.) *In order for the Bennett bloodline to continue, it is assumed that Qetsiyah had a child or children before her The Travellers killed her. *Either Qetsiyah had a child or Qetsiyah had siblings which continued the Bennett bloodline. *Like Silas and Amara, it is not certain whether or not Qetsiyah was born some time between 5th century B.C. and 1st century B.C. Canon has established that the events that happened occurred over 2,000 years ago, meaning that this makes Qetsiyah over 2,000 years old but younger than 2,500 years old. *Qetsiyah spoke Aramaic, a language whose script is ancestral to both the Hebrew and Arabic alphabets. It is thought to be the primary language Jesus spoke, and was used to write large parts of the biblical books of Daniel and Ezra, as well as much of the Talmud. *She created The Other Side in order to reunite with Silas, if he took the cure and died as a mortal. *She is one of the oldest witches mentioned in the series (it is unclear if she is older than Silas although it is more likely that Silas is older than her). *Silas described her as one of the most powerful witches of all time. *On the contrary, Bonnie referred to her as one of the most powerful witches in the world only. *Qetsiyah, Silas, and Amara are the oldest characters in the series. *Qetsiyah's character has similarities to Inari's character in the novels. **Both characters are very old and powerful supernatural beings. **Both characters are related to the first vampires. Qetsiyah, who along with Silas created and cast the first spell of immortality on Silas, the same spell used in Mikaelson Children. Inari used Klaus, Katherine von Swartzschild and Tyler Smallwood to attack Fell's Church and humans on Earth. **Inari and Qetsiyah can be considered the true antagonists in most of the history of the novels and TV series respectively. *Qetsiyah's power is so great that even some of her blood can be used as a magical power source, similar to using a full moon, or a comet. A witch can draw on it for a large source of power; Bonnie Bennett used it to help lower the veil to the Other Side. *Just as Silas was worshipped by his own cult, Qetsiyah is worshipped by many witches, such as Massak who treasured Silas' headstone, which contained her calcified blood. *Qetsiyah/Tessa was an antagonist and villain alongside Silas in Season 5. *Qetsiyah prefers to be called Tessa in the current times. She says that the former name of Qetsiyah sounds "ancient timey" and is hard to pronounce by some. *Janina Gavankar, the actress who plays Tessa, played the role of Luna Garza in HBO's ''True Blood. Incidentally, she also played McKenna Hall in Arrow, where Stephen Amell, who portrayed Brady in The Vampire Diaries, stars. Gallery Silas & Tessa - Season 5.png Tessasilas.jpg Vampire-diaries-503-4.jpg Qetsiyah TVD 5x03.jpg Qetsiyah x.jpg Qetsiyah 2 TVD 5x03.jpg Qetsiyah 3 TVD 5x03.jpg Qetsiyah 4 TVD 5x03.jpg Qetsiyah 5 TVD 5x03.jpg Screenshot_2013-10-18-02-13-29.png|Qetsiyah's power Screenshot_2013-10-18-02-15-26.png|Qetsiyah at the alter Screenshot_2013-10-18-02-18-07.png|Qetsiyah and the cure Screenshot_2013-10-18-02-13-23.png Screenshot_2013-10-18-02-21-35.png|Qetsiyah doing a spell Screenshot_2013-10-18-02-16-40.png|Qetsiyah discovers Silas's true love Qetsiyah 6 TVD 5x03.jpg Qetsiyah 7 TVD 5x03.jpg|"I'm Qetsiyah!" Qetsiyah 8 TVD 5x03.jpg Qetsiyah 9 TVD 5x03.jpg Qetsiyah 10 TVD 5x03.jpg Qetsiyah 11 TVD 5x03.jpg Qetsiyah 12 TVD 5x03.jpg Qetsiyah 13 TVD 5x03.jpg Qetsiyah 14 TVD 5x03.jpg Qetsiyah 15 TVD 5x03.jpg Qetsiyah 16 TVD 5x03.jpg Qetsiyah 17 TVD 5x03.jpg Qetsiyah 18 TVD 5x03.jpg|"I'm a little crazy!!!!" Qetsiyah 19 TVD 5x03.jpg Qetsiyah 20 TVD 5x03.jpg Qetsiyah 21 TVD 5x03.jpg 1380419_580092298716579_1616953618_n.jpg 1380786_580092278716581_1053280786_n.jpg 1377379_580092275383248_1931034306_n.jpg Qetsiyah at the bal.png|Qetsiyah at the Monster's Ball Qetsiyah TVD 5x05.jpg Qetsiyah 2 TVD 5x05.jpg Qetsiyah 3 TVD 5x05.jpg Qetsiyah 4 TVD 5x05.jpg Qetsiyah 5 TVD 5x05.jpg Qetsiyah 6 TVD 5x05.jpg Qetsiyah 7 TVD 5x05.jpg Silas and Qetsiyah TVD 5x05.jpg|Qetsiyah and Silas Qetsiyah TVD 5x06.jpg Qetsiyah 2 TVD 5x06.jpg Qetsiyah 3 TVD 5x06.jpg Qetsiyah 4 TVD 5x06.jpg Qetsiyah 5 TVD 5x06.jpg Qetsiyah 6 TVD 5x06.jpg Qetsiyah 7 TVD 5x06.jpg Qetsiyah 8 TVD 5x06.jpg Qetsiyah 9 TVD 5x06.jpg Qetsiyah 10 TVD 5x06.jpg Qetsiyah and Stefan TVD 5x06.jpg|Qetsiyah and Stefan Qetsiyah 11 TVD 5x06.jpg Tumblr mwajb04kfO1sjyi3po1 500.gif Qetsiyahdeath-5x07.png|Qetsiyah's death TessaElena.png Qetsiyah-Tessa-TVD-5x03-OriginalSin.PNG Qetsiyah-5x06.jpg Videos Vampire Diaries 5x03 - Stefan Tessa "Your friend was the 1st version of Elena" Vampire Diaries 5x03 Original Sin - Stefan Tessa "Silas was my true love. I'm Qetsiyah" VOSTFR Vampire Diaries 5x03 Original Sin - FLASHBACK Qetsiyah killed Amara Vampire Diaries 5x03 - Tessa Damon "I've watched versions of Stefan&Elena find eachother" References See also it:Qetsiyah Category:Characters Category:Season 4 Characters Category:Season 5 Characters Category:Antagonists Category:Bennett Family Category:Supernatural Category:Witches Category:Recurring Characters Category:Deceased